Takes Two to Tango
by Yo-Yo Kirby
Summary: Set directly after the events of "Mushroom Samba." On the way to Mars for supplies and food, the Bebop is attacked by dangerous hijackers.
1. Default Chapter

I, Yo-Yo Kirby, do not own neither Cowboy Bebop nor anything affiliated with it.

I merely write this story for my enjoyment and for others.

Takes Two to Tango

A Cowboy Bebop fan fiction by Yo-Yo Kirby  

Part One- Mushrooms, anyone?

            "Ed is hungry." Ed groaned while sitting upside down on a cushioned chair. Ein, who was lying underneath the chair, gradually lifted his head, yawned, and fell asleep again. 

"I know. You've said it twenty times already. And for the twentieth time, Jet's cooking something." Spike Spiegel sighed, leaned his head back over the top of the couch and closed his eyes.

The room was dimly lit, and a smoky vapor filled the air, as usual. It had been a couple of days since the crash, but Jet had somewhat gotten the Bebop back into shape, and they were headed towards Mars for food and supplies. Unfortunately, it was about a week until they reached Mars, or pretty much any form of civilization. And Spike wasn't particularly fond of being stuck in the ship with Faye and Ed for long periods of time. 

"Where's Faye-Faye?" Ed asked. Spike opened his eyes and stared dully at the ceiling.

"Bathroom." He replied. Ed spastically flipped over in her chair and frowned. 

"Ed is hungry!"  Spike closed his eyes again and covered his face with his palm, annoyed. 

_Only five more days… can I make it?_ Spike thought to himself absentmindedly. 

Faye had been going to the bathroom like clockwork for a couple of days now, holding her stomach and randomly running for the toilet. No doubt she had gotten sick of those damn-

"Mushrooms!" Jet strode into the room with a platter of different plates of food, all of them made with Shitake mushrooms. Spike's face scrunched up in disgust and looked up at Jet, who placed the platter onto the table. 

"Ha ha! Food for Ed!" Ed laughed as she darted up to the table and started to eat the mushrooms ravenously without any utensils. 

            Spike's eye twitched violently as he watched her eat the wretched things with such unrestrained energy. Finished with one plate, Ed grabbed another one and practically inhaled it. Then Spike watched Jet as he vainly attempted to force Ein to eat the mushrooms, and slowly dropped his chopsticks onto the untouched plate.

"Jet, I can't eat anymore of these things." Spike poked the soggy mushroom on his plate.

"We've eaten them four days straight, and it's starting to make me sick. Don't we have any frozen bell peppers and beef in the fridge somewhere?"

Jet folded his arms across his chest and stared at him menacingly. 

"Unless you're talking about the fridge you threw out the airlock, …no." 

Spike shrugged defensively. "I had to throw it out," he explained. 

"It had its own ecosystem. And where the blob-thing went... well, your guess is as good as mine."

"Pudding!" Ed cried randomly as she did a backward somersault, her messy red hair flopping around. They ignored her and continued talking.

"Humph." Jet grunted and unfolded his arms. "Well, you're going to have to learn to like them. At least for five more days."

            Spike sighed and leaned his head steadily against the top of the couch again. 

"Yeah. Just five more days." He muttered slowly. "I might as well throw _myself_ through the airlock."  Jet grunted again and stiffly walked back into the kitchen. 

A loud moan echoed from the hallway. Spike turned his head to look.

Faye staggered into the room with her hair pulled back, looking sick. Naturally, Spike stood up.

"Mushrooms, Faye?" Spike asked with a straight face and offered her a plate.

"Special today. Grilled Shitake Mushrooms in a mushroom sauce. Want some?" 

Faye put her hand up to her mouth as her face turned a greenish hue and her eyes bulged at the sight of the plate. After a moment of hesitation, she frantically ran out of the dim room and into the hallway, and Spike could faintly hear her vomit into the toilet. He paused and looked curiously at the mushrooms on the dish.

"Guess not." Spike casually placed the plate of mushrooms back onto the table. 


	2. Chapter Two

Part Two- Power Failure

            As Ed happily bounced out of the room, Spike shoved the plates to the side, flicked on the TV and groaned. It was covered with static, as usual.

"Piece of crap." he muttered.  

_Nothing a little kick can't fix._

Spike slammed the heel of his shoe into the side of the TV, and it came to life, amid still being filled with static. He sat down on the couch, and turned the volume up. _Big Shot_ was on as always, and he wondered if that channel actually aired anything else.

            On the show, Punch was describing a new bounty with much enthusiasm. 

"And for today's _hot_ news!" Spike silently lip-synched Punch's words as he said them.

"Oh, wait a second, folks." On-screen, Judy silently passed a slip of red paper to Punch. His eyes widened as he read the paper.

"Holy smokes, a new bounty has just hit our studio, bounty hunters!"

Spike leaned his head forward in interest. 

_   **Bzzzztt.**_****

The screen went blank and all the lights in the room flickered off.

*                                  *                                              *                                              *

            Jet slammed his head into the wall.

"Agh! Goddammit!" he rubbed his head and squinted his eyes. It was too dark to see anything around him. _The fuses are probably on the brink again…_ He thought to himself as he carefully reached into his pocket and pulled out a mini-flashlight. 

            The beam of light cut like a sharpened knife through the darkness, and Jet cautiously walked into the next room.

"Hey! Spike!" He called out wearily. "You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Spike's voice echoed out of the darkness.

"Where the hell are you?" Jet queried as he looked around the room with the light.

"By the TV," he answered. Jet swung the light to his left, where Spike was leaning back on the couch.

            Spike shielded his eyes from the glare of the flashlight and squinted.

"Fuse problems?" Spike asked calmly. Jet turned around and began shining the light across the wall, looking for the fuse box.

"Yeah. I think so." Jet replied as he continued searching along the wall.

"This place is falling apart." Spike sighed behind him. 

"Hmph." Jet grunted in response.

            Finally, Jet found the near invisible opening for the fuses.

"Aha!" he muttered to himself as he reached to open the little hatch. Spike popped up over Jet's shoulder, attempting to take a look at the damage.

_Sure enough, a fuse burst._ Jet thought as he picked loose the burned out fuse with his fingers and replaced it with a shiny new one from his pocket.

"There!" Jet mumbled out loud as he stood up. There was a slight pause. Spike shifted his feet and yawned.

"Jet… aren't the lights supposed to come back on?" Spike queried.

Jet turned around and sighed. The glow from his dying flashlight lit up the front of Spike's shirt, creating an ominous shadow on the wall behind him.

"Yeah…" Jet stroked his chin. "It's probably the main power source down in the engine room. Where's Ed? We need her goggles."

"Edward is here!" Shouted Ed from behind Jet. Jet spun around with the flashlight, where Ed was examining the fuse box with her fingers. Not bothering to ask how she got there, Jet tapped her on the shoulder.

"Ed, we need your goggles so I can use the night-vision function. Where are they?" Ed poked her finger at the fuses. She shook her head, still fiddling with the little electronic devices.

"Edward doesn't remember," she replied as she rubbed her head. "Edward _thinks_ they're with Tomato." She turned around and grinned. Jet exasperatedly massaged his temple in annoyance. Ed giggled. 

"You _think_? Where _is_ Tomato, anyway?" Jet questioned. 

"Hmm…" Ed's face was lost in thought. Then she walked over across the room towards the table, bumping and toppling over a chair by accident, and disappearing from the flashlight's glow.

            Then Ed's computer was held up into the light.

"_Tomato has been foouuund_!!" Ed sang cheerfully as she balanced the notebook on her head and danced over to Jet and Spike, and handing the goggles to Jet. 

"Alright." Jet held the goggles up to the light. "Looks like there's enough of a charge in'm to let me head down to the engine room and make repairs."

Jet strapped the goggles on, and flicked them on. The mini-flashlight finally died, and the only lights in the room were the goggle's neon glow.

            Through the goggles, Jet could see everything again, amid a greenish hue. Spike was on the couch, searching for his cigarettes in the dark, and Ed was sitting on top of Ein, balancing her computer on her head.

"Be right back," Jet called back as he headed down the dark hallway, towards the engine room. Spike finally found a cigarette and lit it with his lighter. A small, faint glow filled the room as he smoked. Across the room, Ed toppled backward off of Ein, walked up to Spike and stuck her face right in front of him.

"Where's Faye-Faye?" She asked curiously.

  *                                *                                              *                                              *

            "Ouch!" Faye smacked her head against the door as the power went out, leaving her stranded in darkness, sick and with an unpleasant headache. She had just been exiting the bathroom when metallic sliding door slammed shut in her face. Now she could see nothing. She pounded on the door with her fists.

"**_Ed!!_**" She screamed at the top of her voice. "Ed, let me out _now_!" She pounded harder against the cold metal.

"_This isn't funny, Ed!!_"

*                                      *                                         *                                                *

Spike shrugged and leaned back on the couch.

"Who cares?" He replied while crushing his cigarette into the ashtray.


End file.
